You asked HR to run an urgent report on payroll for the past twelve months. But – wait – there is a problem. They can’t access the data.
So what do you do next? Do you call your IT Helpdesk? Perhaps you need to check with your network in case it’s a network problem. Maybe you should speak to the people who look after your hardware.
That’s the scenario you face when dealing with multiple IT providers. In this guide, we’ll share some of the benefits of supplier consolidation.
You’ll See Cost Savings
Supplier relationships are an excellent place to start if you want to save money in your company. You may have several suppliers who offer the same or similar services.
So, by consolidating these IT partners, you can secure bulk discounts and more competitive fees.
Some suppliers may have a partnership pricing model that works out cheaper for you in the long run. You’ll also reduce the costs of managing these supplier relationships.
With IT, there is often lots of interaction between your core team and technical staff. So, it’s easier to oversee this when dealing with a single provider.
It Puts You in a Better Negotiating Position
It’s essential to start from a strong position when negotiating with suppliers. If you want to secure a significant partnership for all your IT support, you automatically give yourself that strength.
You can offer a large volume of work and a considerable contract. Plus, that supplier will know they have the opportunity to work on many exciting new IT projects as you grow.
All this works in your favour because it will help you secure a better contract with the supplier and more competitive prices.
You may also be able to secure some excellent support terms, such as a better target response time for emergency IT issues or a dedicated technical manager for your company.
A Stronger Relationship With Your Supplier
Consolidating suppliers is a chance to move to a different type of relationship with your key IT supplier – one that’s more of a partnership.
This more meaningful connection could have a massive benefit for your business. It will enable you to collaborate on new projects, using problem-solving talent from both teams to improve your IT setup.
It will also help the supplier take more ownership of the everyday demands of your IT management.
In other words, you’ll have a committed technical lead to ensure all your technology runs smoothly and keeps you operating.
When you simplify relationships in this way, it will also improve communication and help you avoid misunderstandings that could lead to costly IT errors.
A More Efficient Vendor Management Process
Procurement takes time and demands much from your buying team. You must run negotiations, secure contracts, and oversee that relationship, including renewing it occasionally.
It’s a clear benefit to your procurement team if you can consolidate some of those partnerships. It will make it easier for the procurement team to get the most from your suppliers.
Suppose you need to expand your IT infrastructure, for example.
Your procurement team can go directly to your existing supplier partnerships to get the quotes and terms instead of sourcing from dozens of potential IT companies.
It is a faster way to set up your new infrastructure, offering considerable time savings. It will make your procurement team and the rest of your business more agile.
You Get Higher Vendor Quality Standards
You need your IT standards to be consistent across your organisation. That’s the benefit of using one supplier.
It makes it easier to work with that company to raise those standards and keep them high across your entire organisation.
For example, you won’t face a situation where your network is managed by a company with a 1-hour response time but have another company overseeing your hardware with a 12-hour response time.
That disjointed approach can be complex for a company because IT is often interdependent. In contrast, one supplier means you can have a single quality target across your entire IT setup.
So you always have the reassurance that all your business technology is of the same high standard.
It Makes Supply Chain Management Easier for Your Business
As your company grows, your supply chains become more extensive and complex. That means more management, demands for process improvements, and potentially higher costs.
You can streamline those logistics and simplify processes by sticking to minimal suppliers. In IT, that means handling one service level agreement, contract, and logistical process.
When sourcing hardware, you have a standardised approach with a single company. So you won’t have to worry about getting to grips with different delivery timetables, approaches, or contacts.
It Supports Your Business Operations
Consolidating IT vendors can have a positive impact on your operational efficiency. First, it means fewer processes to handle. But it’s also a chance for a more coherent and integrated IT setup.
One supplier means having fewer software solutions and a more centralised infrastructure. All that leads to operational efficiency as you won’t have to deal with getting many different systems (or teams) talking to one another.
It’s increasingly valuable in a world that’s moving to cloud-based technology.
It means you can have a team on hand that can help you expand your IT in any direction without substantial scaling.
It Helps You Better Manage Your IT Risks
All businesses have some level of risk with their IT. That could be security, for example, and the threat of data loss or theft.
Whatever your IT risks, it’s essential to work with a partner who understands them and works alongside you to manage them, which is why consolidation can help.
You can work with a single team to create contingency plans for your business. And you’ll have one team to manage those plans should something happen.
A consolidated IT setup also means fewer points of failure in your organisation. Security, again, is an excellent example of this in action.
You won’t be as vulnerable to a security breach because you won’t have your IT managed by multiple providers.
It Helps You Innovate in a Competitive Landscape
Working with a leading IT supplier can help you become more innovative with your IT setup. You can work on large-scale, long-term projects to enhance your business technology.
That could give you a competitive edge. And since your IT supplier will be your sole provider, they will better understand your needs and business priorities.
So, you’ll have an expert team who can provide custom solutions that perfectly match your business’s needs. It means you can grow your IT setup to fit your company’s evolving needs.
And you will have more creative and considered solutions instead of the one-size-fits-all many other businesses face with their IT.
You’ll Have More Control Over Your Suppliers
Since it’s easier to manage one vendor compared to several, you can gain more control in that relationship. Suppose you want morning updates on your IT; that’s easy to do with a single supplier.
It will help you maintain standards with your IT setup.
For instance, it’s easier to check that IT monitoring is happening on your network or that everyone in your team has the right security on their laptop if you only have to check with a single supplier.
All these small management tasks add up, but that control is vital to your operations.
If you have a single supplier and a single point of contact, you’ll have someone who can get those answers for you when you need them and help keep your mind at rest.
You Can Take a More Agile Approach to Your IT
Technology moves fast, which means you must, too. Investing and setting up new software could give you an edge over the competition.
Improving your network could protect you from a new threat. And revamping your website could get you ready for a big product launch.
All these activities need to happen fast. And if you don’t keep up, you could lose out to your competitors. The costs of losing out to competitors are expensive over the long term.
Taking an agile approach means you can’t afford to wait for multiple partners to come together and do their bit so that you can implement your IT strategy.
Consolidating suppliers will help you become an agile and fast-paced business. You only have one dependency, and that solid relationship will ensure they can move at the pace you need.
You Can Take a More Agile Approach to Your IT
If you have already outsourced your IT, you’ll know first-hand the benefits of delegating important technical work to another team. Supplier consolidation is the next step up from that.
It’s your opportunity to streamline processes, cut costs, and boost innovation. Plus, a partnership will ensure you have someone by your side who takes your IT as seriously as you do.
Make that change today. Start by getting in contact with our team at Koris 365. Let’s have an initial conversation about the broad services we offer and the transformations we can make to your IT setup.